A large organization such as a large corporation may have many constituent entities, including divisions, groups, sectors, wholly and partially owned subsidiaries, local office units, etc. Moreover, each constituent entity may require resources as part of the continuing operation thereof. Such resources are many and varied, and for example include office furniture, office supplies, vehicles, raw materials, computer equipment, and computer software. Especially with regard to computer software, such resources can include standardized software applications and specialized software applications.
With regard to any of the aforementioned resources, and with regard to specialized software applications in particular, it is oftentimes the case that more than one entity with an organization requires the same specific resource, and yet each entity acquires such same specific resource from a different vendor at a premium price. Worse yet, and is oftentimes the case with a resource such as a specialized software application, the premium price charged by Vendor A to Entity A is based in large part on the cost charged by Vendor A to Entity A to develop the resource, and likewise the premium price charged by Vendor B to Entity B is based in large part on the cost charged by Vendor B to Entity B to develop the same resource. Quite evidently, the organization is paying twice to develop the same resource for both Entity A and Entity B. Moreover, the problem is exacerbated in the case where many of the entities in an organization are each acquiring resources on their own from many different vendors.
Accordingly, a need exists in connection with a large organization for a centralized resource acquisition process that can receive resource acquisition requests from each of the entities within the organization, assess the requests with regard to a particular resource, and select at least one particular favored vendor to supply the particular resource to all of the requesting entities within the organization.